The most easy-going of the three days for me, day two allowed me to be more flexible with my time than Friday and Saturday, which was perfect, as I wanted to check out the other aspects of the fest including the new Riot Land, the live wrestling matches, skateboarding ramp, the world’s largest butter statue of John Stamos, and more. After moseying around for a bit, I kicked off my “lazy” day with the opposite, The Hives. Nonstop adrenaline and action, The Hives strutted out in matching white-stripped suits ready to take Riot Fest by storm as they jumped, leaped, and climbed out into the crowd. What ended up being one of those sets I went to just because I recognized the name turned into one of the most fun, memorable sets of the weekend for me.
Hitting the stage next were the rising stars of industrial/noise rock, Health. I was already familiar with their work and collaboration on Cyberpunk: 2077, but I hadn’t realized until they started gaining popularity that they were an actual formal band (I thought it was just video game composition). The best way to describe Health is Blade vampire dance music as the bass and kick drum repeatedly slam and hits hard mixed with a soft, soothing voice, and electronic breakdowns. The biggest takeaway was just how low and heavy the bass was tuned to the point where your rib cage and chest weren’t just rattling, but I could feel my esophagus in my neck vibrating and shaking. I was able to squeeze in Sincere Engineer for a few minutes to check out their lively, energetic emo/pop-punk sound. Sadly I missed the part of the set where everyone holds up corn dogs, making the crowd into a sea of corndogs. Manchester Orchestra picked up, immediately playing Cope in full as Riot Fest became an orchestra hall for a small period of time while they play their emotive and heartfelt indie rock.
Beach Bunny followed up for me as I made my over to adjacent set of stages. Beach Bunny have been gaining steam for a minute now with their bright, hook-filled songs that fuel excitement and having a good time. Power pop rock with catchy melodies and lyrics, Beach Bunny’s set was a pure and genuine light-hearted good time that everyone needs a little bit during a three-day fest with rock and metal. Making their official return to Chicago, Basement walked out to a roaring crowd following a four-year hiatus since 2019. Basement have always been a tricky band to catch, as they rarely tour, and when they do, its open slots on larger tours followed by a sold-out small/mid-sized venue tour; therefore the last time I caught Basement was when they opened for The Front Bottoms around 2017. The emo/post-hardcore act sounded just as good as when they last left off. Even if they did keep having technical issues, that didn’t stop the crowd from singing along to every word, crowd surfing over the top, and jumping along. This soft grungy sound is wickedly popular again right now as new fans enter the fold into the genre, so there couldn’t be a better time than now for Basement to come back.
After having to recover from the emotional rollercoaster of Basement’s set, I walked to eat my one meal day of the day (stereotypical fest attendee behavior), thankfully catching the punk legends in Descendants on the way. The LA punks are legends, having been a pivotal act through the ‘80s and ‘90s, serving as the blueprint for all other acts that followed. With the iconic Milo as their mascot, humor-filled sets, and surprisingly very honest and heartfelt approach to songwriting, it’s no wonder Descendants continue to resonate with audiences of all ages still to this day.
As iconic as one can be within the indie music scene, Pavement made a rare Chicago appearance at Riot Fest as a part of their reunion shows. Now, believe it or not, unless you’re a big indie music nut, this set can be a very easy set to miss among the craziness of the weekend, as it does require a little bit of “if you know you know” or historical music context to understand how big of a deal Pavement playing Riot was. Forming in the late ‘80s Pavement became THE face for indie music as they’re credited for defining the modern indie sound even becoming a huge face for the “slacker culture” of the ‘90s.
With their weirdly cryptic lyrical themes, odd time signatures and rhythms, lack of a lead guitar player (instead taking turns), and even having their own “hype man” (even if he doesn’t like being referred to as that), Pavement provided the groundwork for everything indie music. We’ve all see a movie or tv show with the character that just wanted to listen to obscure indie records in their attic bedroom, never wanting to be a part of the in-crowd, often being a bit socially awkward and goofy … That is the embodiment of Pavement. Pavement’s influence has been far and wide even if you don’t realize it and even cooler they never went to the route of big labels instead forever sticking to independent labels throughout their career. It’s no surprise Pavement became one of the most important bands to come out of the underground indie scene in the ‘90s.
Closing out my day, I had to say my final goodbye to NOFX, as Saturday was the only day I was able to catch them. Playing a different setlist each night, NOFX made sure to give fans a full send-off and a unique experience each of the nights so that each set would be its own contained experience. Mainstays and legends, NOFX have been one of the biggest gateway bands into punk music for countless generations, doing stints on Warped Tour, multiple appearances at Riot Fest, and every other major fest, tour, and market you could imagine.
Similar to Bad Religion, Circle Jerks, Descendents, Suicidal Tendencies, or the Misfits, NOFX are often THE band for first-time listeners to check thus becoming one of the main faces of the genre serving as major figureheads so when they announced it’s time to wrap it up, you know they had to go out in style with a full major tour and three days at Riot Fest with their own stage featuring other punk bands throughout the three days. NOFX always did things their way living by their own code. Even on their final leg, they’re still going out how they can in, 100% uniquely themselves.
Wrapping up my evening was the borderline karaoke-sesh of Taking Back Sunday. With an entire catalog of emo anthems, TBS is one of those bands where you just have to sing along too. Whenever I go to house parties, there will always be at least two or three TBS Rock Band and karaoke play-throughs during the night showcasing just how good and catchy their songs where even if you don’t listen to them all the time, there is still a good chance you’re going to know all the words. As Riot Fest alums, Taking Back Sunday always brings fun energy when they play encouraging everyone to get involved in the performance, which how can you not with songs as iconic as theirs.
